Apparently Phil Jackson has coached is final game. No matter what you think of Phil or the Lakers or the Bulls there is no denying he is one of the greatest head coaches of all-time, in any sport. To give you an idea of how tough of a list this was to make here are a few guys I had to leave off: Don Shula, Bob Knight, Dean Smith, George Halas. So here is who I think are the ten best.
10. Chuck Noll - NFL - Pittsburgh Steelers 1969-1991
A couple interesting facts about Chuck are he was born in Cleveland and drafted by the Browns, also he was only offered the Steelers job after Joe Paterno turned down the job. Noll's career record was 209-156-1. However, the only thing any fan needs to know is that Noll is the only head coach to have won four Super Bowls. Without Noll the Steelers of the 70's never would have became "super" and they never would have become the Steel Curtain.
9. Casey Stengel - MLB - New York Yankees and Mets, Brooklyn Dodgers, Boston Braves 1934-1965
Stengel coached a few teams in his managerial career, but all of his success came with the Yankees. The strange thing is he never had a winning record with any other team. However, he was a great minor league coach, which landed him the Yankee job. While with the Yankees he won seven World Series, five in a row, and ten Pennants. The Pittsburgh connection for Stengel is he was involuntarily retired after the 1960 World Series. That was the year the Pirates shocked the heavily favored Yankees with Mazeroski's game seven walk-off home run.
8. Vince Lombardi - NFL - Green Bay Packers, Washington Redskins 1959-1969
Lombardi's head coaching career was surprisingly short, but was incredibly successful. In only 8 seasons as the Packers head coach he won three NFL Championships and two Super Bowls. Lombardi was such a winner that the Super Bowl Trophy was named the Lombardi Trophy. Lombardi never once had a losing season. He is still maybe the most recognizable coach of all-time.
7. Knute Rockne - CFB - Notre Dame 1918-1930
Rockne put the fighting Irish on the map. In thirteen seasons as head coach he built up a 105-12-5 record. That is incredible, anytime a coach has more years coaching than they have losses is pretty amazing. During his time at Notre Dame they won 5 National Championships.
6. Bill Walsh - NFL - San Francisco 49ers 1979-1988
As far as coaches go Bill Walsh had a short stay as an NFL head coach, only ten years. However, in his time he started one of the greatest dynasties in sports history and revolutionized offense in the NFL. Think of every great offense in the NFL from the past twenty years, they have used some form of the 49ers offense. Without Bill Walsh Joe Montana does not become the greatest quarterback of all time and Jerry Rice does not break every record.
5. Scotty Bowman - NHL - St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings 1967-2002
You would think a coach that went to as many teams as Scotty Bowman did was not very good. In actuality he was the greatest coach in NHL history. He started off his career as the only coach of all-time to lose three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals. That is incredible in itself. After that he went on to win 9 Stanley Cups with three different teams and had 13 finals appearances. The most impressive thing is that in his 30 years as a head coach he only had one losing season. That came in the 1986-87 season when he coached 12 games. He holds the NHL coaching record for regular season and postseason wins.
4. Red Auerbach - NBA - Tri-Cities Blackhawks, Boston Celtics 1950-1966
Every time I smoke a cigar I think of Red Auerbach. He had a lot of championship celebrations to smoke them at. At first Red struggled as the Celtics head coach. Then when things clicked the Celtics became the greatest dynasty in NBA history. They won 9 Championships in ten years. Including eight in a row to close out his coaching career. Talk about going out on top. He also holds the NBA record for career ejections, he was an unabashed trash talker. His real legacy should be rooted in breaking the color barrier. He drafted the first African-American player in NBA history and had the first all African-American starting five. When he retired from coaching he hired the first African-American coach in NBA history, Bill Russell.
3. Paul "Bear" Bryant - CFB - Maryland, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Alabama 1945-1982
Bear Bryant is recognized as the greatest coach in college football history. He made every school he coached great. In his first year at Texas A&M the team finished with a 1-9 record. Just one season later they finished 9-0-1. In his 38 seasons he had a winning record in 37 of them, and played in 29 bowl games. He won 6 National Championships. Not bad for a coach that constantly wanted to rebuild programs.
2. John Wooden - CBB - Indiana State University, UCLA 1946-1975
John Wooden is my personal favorite coach of all-time and one of my favorite people ever. Looking simply at his accomplishments you can see he is the greatest college coach of all-time. He won 10 National Championships, including seven in a row. He had four undefeated seasons and an 88 game winning streak. However, what actually makes me love Wooden so much is his coaching. He cared more about his players as students than athletes. He would have preferred his team lose every game and all his kids get 4.0 GPA, than go undefeated. Wooden's "Seven Point Creed" and "Pyramid of Success" are great examples of the type of man he was.
1. Phil Jackson - NBA - Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers 1989-2011
The "Zen Master" is the greatest coach of all-time. Most impressive is that Jackson is one of the only NBA coaches that looks like a basketball player, just think about all the short overweight coaches in the NBA. Jackson won 11 NBA Championships and had 13 Finals appearances. Amazingly he won 6 NBA titles in a row, split between two teams. Phil had the highest winning percentage of any coach in NBA history and never had a losing season. The biggest knock on Phil is that he always had superstar talent. I would argue that every coach on this list had Hall of Famers that played for them. It takes a super talented coach to make super stars play in a system. Remember none of his teams won before his arrival or after he left.
10. Chuck Noll - NFL - Pittsburgh Steelers 1969-1991
A couple interesting facts about Chuck are he was born in Cleveland and drafted by the Browns, also he was only offered the Steelers job after Joe Paterno turned down the job. Noll's career record was 209-156-1. However, the only thing any fan needs to know is that Noll is the only head coach to have won four Super Bowls. Without Noll the Steelers of the 70's never would have became "super" and they never would have become the Steel Curtain.
9. Casey Stengel - MLB - New York Yankees and Mets, Brooklyn Dodgers, Boston Braves 1934-1965
Stengel coached a few teams in his managerial career, but all of his success came with the Yankees. The strange thing is he never had a winning record with any other team. However, he was a great minor league coach, which landed him the Yankee job. While with the Yankees he won seven World Series, five in a row, and ten Pennants. The Pittsburgh connection for Stengel is he was involuntarily retired after the 1960 World Series. That was the year the Pirates shocked the heavily favored Yankees with Mazeroski's game seven walk-off home run.
8. Vince Lombardi - NFL - Green Bay Packers, Washington Redskins 1959-1969
Lombardi's head coaching career was surprisingly short, but was incredibly successful. In only 8 seasons as the Packers head coach he won three NFL Championships and two Super Bowls. Lombardi was such a winner that the Super Bowl Trophy was named the Lombardi Trophy. Lombardi never once had a losing season. He is still maybe the most recognizable coach of all-time.
7. Knute Rockne - CFB - Notre Dame 1918-1930
Rockne put the fighting Irish on the map. In thirteen seasons as head coach he built up a 105-12-5 record. That is incredible, anytime a coach has more years coaching than they have losses is pretty amazing. During his time at Notre Dame they won 5 National Championships.
6. Bill Walsh - NFL - San Francisco 49ers 1979-1988
As far as coaches go Bill Walsh had a short stay as an NFL head coach, only ten years. However, in his time he started one of the greatest dynasties in sports history and revolutionized offense in the NFL. Think of every great offense in the NFL from the past twenty years, they have used some form of the 49ers offense. Without Bill Walsh Joe Montana does not become the greatest quarterback of all time and Jerry Rice does not break every record.
5. Scotty Bowman - NHL - St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings 1967-2002
You would think a coach that went to as many teams as Scotty Bowman did was not very good. In actuality he was the greatest coach in NHL history. He started off his career as the only coach of all-time to lose three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals. That is incredible in itself. After that he went on to win 9 Stanley Cups with three different teams and had 13 finals appearances. The most impressive thing is that in his 30 years as a head coach he only had one losing season. That came in the 1986-87 season when he coached 12 games. He holds the NHL coaching record for regular season and postseason wins.
4. Red Auerbach - NBA - Tri-Cities Blackhawks, Boston Celtics 1950-1966
Every time I smoke a cigar I think of Red Auerbach. He had a lot of championship celebrations to smoke them at. At first Red struggled as the Celtics head coach. Then when things clicked the Celtics became the greatest dynasty in NBA history. They won 9 Championships in ten years. Including eight in a row to close out his coaching career. Talk about going out on top. He also holds the NBA record for career ejections, he was an unabashed trash talker. His real legacy should be rooted in breaking the color barrier. He drafted the first African-American player in NBA history and had the first all African-American starting five. When he retired from coaching he hired the first African-American coach in NBA history, Bill Russell.
3. Paul "Bear" Bryant - CFB - Maryland, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Alabama 1945-1982
Bear Bryant is recognized as the greatest coach in college football history. He made every school he coached great. In his first year at Texas A&M the team finished with a 1-9 record. Just one season later they finished 9-0-1. In his 38 seasons he had a winning record in 37 of them, and played in 29 bowl games. He won 6 National Championships. Not bad for a coach that constantly wanted to rebuild programs.
2. John Wooden - CBB - Indiana State University, UCLA 1946-1975
John Wooden is my personal favorite coach of all-time and one of my favorite people ever. Looking simply at his accomplishments you can see he is the greatest college coach of all-time. He won 10 National Championships, including seven in a row. He had four undefeated seasons and an 88 game winning streak. However, what actually makes me love Wooden so much is his coaching. He cared more about his players as students than athletes. He would have preferred his team lose every game and all his kids get 4.0 GPA, than go undefeated. Wooden's "Seven Point Creed" and "Pyramid of Success" are great examples of the type of man he was.
1. Phil Jackson - NBA - Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers 1989-2011
The "Zen Master" is the greatest coach of all-time. Most impressive is that Jackson is one of the only NBA coaches that looks like a basketball player, just think about all the short overweight coaches in the NBA. Jackson won 11 NBA Championships and had 13 Finals appearances. Amazingly he won 6 NBA titles in a row, split between two teams. Phil had the highest winning percentage of any coach in NBA history and never had a losing season. The biggest knock on Phil is that he always had superstar talent. I would argue that every coach on this list had Hall of Famers that played for them. It takes a super talented coach to make super stars play in a system. Remember none of his teams won before his arrival or after he left.
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